World demand for translators

Anita Goetthans translated Maurice Gee's best-selling 1998 novel Live Bodies for the massive German-speaking market, but is still studying to be a translator.

The German national, who is married to a New Zealander, is now living here permanently. She has an education degree from a German university, is a trained teacher, and also has qualifications in teaching English as a second language.

Yet, she is studying for the year-long graduate diploma in translation studies at the University of Auckland.

"There's a difference between speaking two languages and being able to translate between them. I want to be a professional translator so I need the academic background to do that and to complement and enhance my practical skills," she says.

There is a growing world-wide demand for professional translators and the centre for translation studies at Auckland University is New Zealand's pre-eminent translator teaching institution, says Dr Sabine Fenton, its director of programmes.

Applicants must have advanced language skills in English and another language, but simply speaking eloquently in another tongue doesn't necessarily make a good translator.

"You need to understand the cultures too," says Anita.

"Translation is not just about finding the equivalent 90,000 words in the other language. In the same way that a surgeon operating on the heart can't neglect the body around it, the translator cannot disregard the cultural implications. For example, how do you translate 'You're a tinny bugger' into German?"

Dr Fenton says applicants must have an undergraduate degree but not necessarily in languages.

"It could be engineering or medicine, just so long as you are proficient in two languages as well."

The post-graduate course is designed to develop practical translation abilities that are immediately useful in the business world.

"This is a professional as well as an academic qualification," says Dr Fenton.

"It is a careful balance of theory and practice. With these combinations of skills you can work in New Zealand or overseas as a translator at a professional level."

New Zealanders, she says, are only now getting serious about educating a corp of professional multilingual translators. As New Zealand broadens its base of trading partners, translators will "become even more sought after."